Pakistan Cricket Board - A dog's tail will never be straightened

Pakistan cricket followers were shocked when they saw their beloved team to exit from the World Cup 1996 after losing to their archrivals India. The fans who were over-confident of beating India on their home soil, suffered a mental trauma which transformed into anger and thus, leading then to greet their heroes in the harshest of manners. The Pakistan cricket fraternity and its ardent fans just could not forgive Wasim Akram and his men even though it was just a game.  

The Pakistan cricket team flew to England for a Test and one-day series under the captaincy of Wasim Akram. Wasim vowed to erase all the bad memories by winning on a regular basis and he and his men did that in style – Test series were won, one-day matches were won either via nail-biting finishes or ruthless manner and world records were broken, new and exciting talents continued to emerge and each and every star performer delivered their best. Finally, the tri-nation World Series Cricket tournament – which Pakistan never won - was won in Australia.

Thus, the 1996-97 season remains as one of the most productive seasons in the history of Pakistan cricket. Injuries kept Wasim from playing in 1997 but before the Test series against West Indies, Wasim was handed over the captaincy again and under him, Pakistan handed West Indies a 3-0 drubbing. Wasim Akram was the new Imran Khan and in the following year, he was determined to put up a gallant display against two best Test teams in the world – Australia and South Africa.

But in 1998, Wasim Akram was dethroned from the captaincy due to the suspicions of match-fixing. Allegations were made by Pakistan’s so called honest people who had no evidence against Akram and on the basis of just suspicions; Pakistan Cricket Board sacked Akram from captaincy. For PCB, allegations without evidence were more important than the person’s creditability as a skipper.  

So, the honest people of Pakistan cricket were handed over the captaincy and under their captaincy Pakistan never gelled well. Pakistan suffered defeats after defeats and everything earned under Akram went wasted. Pakistan as a team was nothing but a joke.   

Wasim Akram came back as Pakistan’s captain in 1999 and immediately he reunited a fragile Pakistan unit into world beaters. The World Cup 1999 final was lost but still during that year Pakistan had established themselves as the second best team after Australia.

The Test series against Australia in Australia in 1999 was disastrous but one can’t deny that Pakistan were robbed of a victory at Hobart which the dented the team’s morale heavily but still they turned around brilliantly in the Tri-nation one-day tournament and played the finals. They did lose both the finals badly but the overall results were decent.

But PCB was not delighted with such a result and Wasim was removed again from captaincy. How justified was it to remove a deserving captain on the basis of just two defeats against the best team in the world?

Wasim had been given the captaincy then removed again then again called back then again removed and then again called back and then removed again – the comedy show continued. On the basis of just suspicions and the so called honest souls of Pakistan cricket, Wasim Akram had always been treated harshly.

Does an icon like Wasim Akram deserve this?

In my opinion, after Imran Khan’s exit, Javed Miandad shoud have continued as Pakistan captain for a while and groom Akram under him. After Javed’s exit, it was none but Akram who should have continued as Pakistan’s captain till the World Cup 2003. After Imran’s retirement, Pakistan tested most of its successes under the captaincy of Wasim Akram.

But acting sensibly has never been PCB’s way. While the world things moderately and plans to move forward, the PCB is more focused in settling personal scores and playing dirty politics. Time and again, their decisions have made them a joke to the cricketing world and with that, the image of Pakistan cricket has tarnished severely.   

Last week, for criticizing Waqar’s interference on team selection, Shahid Afridi has been axed from the one-day captaincy. It was not a mature act by Afridi to criticize publicly but only for this reason to remove him from captaincy doesn’t make any sense. How mature an act has this been done by PCB? Things could have been solved in a rather diplomatic manner. 

We can’t deny Shahid Afridi’s contributions as a captain for Pakistan. What was Pakistan team after that spot-fixing saga? It was nothing but a lost soul. But Shahid Afridi showed enough character to bring stability within the team and playing in the World Cup semi-finals has been a great achievement.

Pakistan gelled well under Afridi but in Pakistan they just hate good things and love to spoil all the good works.

Remember how Younis Khan reunited Pakistan two years back? He was being regarded as the leader of men. But sadly on the basis of false allegations, Younis had to be removed and the person who pointed finger towards Younis later on proved to be the biggest crook. The way Pakistan gives importance to substandard people is astonishingly annoying.

Since 1992 chopping and changing captains has been a culture in Pakistan cricket. And more importantly, the captains who start to reap a rich harvest for Pakistan cricket tends to meet a sorry end.

Wasim Akram, Younis Khan, Javed Miandad, Younis Khan and now Shahid Afridi all had made Pakistan look better from ugly, but their rewards had been pathetic. Pakistan Cricket Board simply changes captains like toilet’s tissue papers.

Misbah-ul-Haq has replaced Afridi as the new one-day captain. Though Misbah has been good in Test cricket, but at 37 he is not the long term solution. As Osman Samiuddin says, “Misbah might be a decent captain. His form since his return to all formats last year has been outstanding, even if it takes in the much-pilloried World Cup semi-final half-century against India. But turning to a man who turns 37 on the day he leads Pakistan against Ireland in the first ODI isn't a long-term solution.”

As an ardent follower of Pakistan cricket since the days of Imran Khan, I am simply fed up with such whimsical decisions of PCB. The world change, the people change with the course of time but PCB denies changing. Their actions remain the same as before – nonsense.

Nineteen years have passed since the retirement of Imran Khan, two decades have surpassed and sadly those stupidities of PCB are still haunting Pakistan cricket. Pakistan cricket board is a dog’s tail which will never be straightened.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar